The Latest on Conversion Rates by Industry

You’ve calculated your conversion rate, but do you know how it measures up to how well your competitors are doing? Marketing Sherpa has gathered data on conversion rates in different industries.

Marketing Research Chart: Average website conversion rates, by industry

Why do professional and financial services convert five times as many visitors as nonprofits? Because the two industries have very different definitions of what it means to “convert” a visitor.

In professional services, the goal is lead generation: identifying individuals who might become paying customers further down the sales funnel. Thus a successful conversion for them would involve getting an email address, perhaps in exchange for a free white paper.

The nonprofit, on the other hand, would be more likely to define success as getting a donation. This involves the visitor giving money, not just an email address — and money that goes for a non-tangible benefit, the feeling of helping a cause.

When you set your goal action, think about what kind of investment it requires from visitors to convert before setting a goal for your conversion rate. Your competitors are probably using similar goal actions, so industry conversion rates provide a good starting benchmark for evaluating your success.